It is known that cenicriviroc (CVC) inhibits CCR5 and CCR2 receptors and prevents virus from entering into a human cell, such as the HIV virus (U.S. Pat. No. 8,183,273). The synthesis of CVC is also previously disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/506,955 and Int. Pat. Pub. No. WO 2001017947.

The present disclosure provides an industrially advantageous process for preparing CVC, CVC salts, or related analogs, by an optimized amide bond formation process with an amino containing sulfoxide derivative to provide highly pure product.
Conventional methods of synthesizing CVC, CVC salts, and related analogs, resulted in the presence of undesirable impurities. Thus, there is a need for highly pure CVC and process of making the same.